Ogun Gov Threatens Monarchs Selling Government Land: ‘We’ll Take Disciplinary Action’

The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, said the state government has gotten reports that some traditional rulers are allegedly selling land belonging to the state.

The governor warned that the state government would take appropriate action against any person found selling land in its forest reserves and plantation across the state.

He spoke on Monday at the statutory meeting of the state’s Council of Obas held at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

“We will continue to seek your support in the area of lands. Sadly, cases have been reported to us here in Abeokuta about some of our monarchs who have taken upon themselves to allocate government land, government forest reserves, and plantations to others. They’ve been allocating and selling government lands.

“I have found this very difficult to believe. I consider this extremely unpatriotic that our monarchs will now begin to allocate such lands to others, and worse still, in some of the areas, the land is being allocated to non-Ogun State indigenes

“Our Kabiyesis are colluding with people from outside Ogun State and give our land to them in our plantations and they are coming there, deforesting them. They are destroying the plantation. They are planting Indian Hemp there. I was completely heartbroken when I heard this news, and when we actually verified, it was true.

“As a responsible state government, we will not have any choice but to take disciplinary action against any person found culpable of such an act; any person, be it Kabiyesi or any person.

“Because this land does not belong to me, it doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to our collective patrimony; it is our collective property that we own as a state. It is our commonwealth, and we should endeavour to ensure that we do not engage in such acts like this capable of tarnishing the image of the royalty and the throne.”

Speaking on his administration’s efforts to bring in more investments into the state, Abiodun said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of the Ogun State Dry Port at Kajola would be signed between the state government and a private investor before the end of this year.

According to him, discussions on the use of the state’s Cargo Airport by Beninoise investors had been held with that country’s President.

“It means in Ogun State, we will now have a dry port that will now enable all of us, including our industries and manufacturers, to now ship their goods from anywhere in the world to Kajola. This Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between now and Christmas.

“Last week, I met with the President of Benin Republic. He shared with me the fact that the government of Benin Republic has heard so much about our airport, sent delegates and determined as a government that they want to be the first customer to export from our airport.

“They have decided that all their agro produce will be brought down from Benin Republic to our airport and will be exported to the rest of the world from our airport,” he said.

Touching on his administration’s plan for the health sector, the governor noted that the state government has decided to concession the 250-bed hospital in Abeokuta.

“We are going to be signing the Memorandum of Understanding on the 250 Bed Hospital right here in Abeokuta.

“We realize that the state will not be able to run that hospital because as it is, our tertiary hospital, OOUTH, costs the state almost N300 million every month in salaries alone. We appreciate the fact that the state is not in a position to run that hospital the way it needs to be run.

“From what we have seen and done, if that hospital is properly run, medical tourism will be attracted to that hospital.

“So, the state has adopted a template that we will be the landlord owning that property, and others should come and take the concession of that property and run it professionally.

“Before the end of the year, we are also signing the Memorandum of Understanding with the Afrexim Bank and the medical group that has agreed to take over that hospital, complete it and operationlize it professionally,” he added.